How to prepare for an academic interview:

Advice for interviewing at your field's big conference

(or just surviving it)

by Eric M. Eisenstein

Note:  The advice contained on this page will be most germane to those seeking employment in marketing, other business fields, engineering, and humanities and other social sciences, in that order.

General Advice

1. Strike fast. Try to establish your candidacy in the first 5 minutes of the interview. The standard advice for business interviews applies in academic job interviews as well. 
   • Look people in the eye. 
   • Answer questions succinctly. 
   • Prepare snappy, short, and medium-length answers to the standard questions (see below). DO NOT drone on for 15 minutes about the minutiae of your dissertation.

Your interviewers have probably been sitting in a room listening to 5-10 other presentations the DAY you interview.  

Many will tune out after 5 minutes no matter what you do!  Provide some take-aways in the first 5 minutes.

2. Try to relax and be yourself.  Try to enjoy yourself.  This convention is a lot like a debutante ball -- your introduction to the field.  Handled properly it should be fun.
   • Don't try to hide who you are. Be careful about creating different personas for different interviews at the convention. You will be seeing search committee members throughout the weekend and you may forget which persona you presented to whom. Believe in your skills and give it your best shot.


3. Dress distinctively (but don't violate too many conventions).  After 2-3 days trapped in a hotel room interviewing, search committee members are completely fried or bored or both. It'll be hard to remember you if you looked and dressed like every other candidate.  My stab at what you should wear follows.  I'll try to get someone to send me something useful for women... I have no idea how women should dress.
   
   • Men: dark grey or blue suits, white shirt (no buttondown collars or cuff links), loud ties are OK (differentiate yourself), but not outrageous ties (no Mickey Mouse, fruit, strange pictures, etc).
   • Women:  Conservative business attire.  There is a raging debate about whether pant-suits are dressy enough for interviews in the business world.  I am unqualified to comment, as I think that they are obviously dressy enough.  The conservative choice is clearly no pantsuits.  Keep to conservative colors, hairstyles, jewelry, makeup, and perfume.
   
   
   • Both genders:  make sure that your clothing FITS!  Know the conventions in America for appropriate colors and color matching.  The safest bet for both genders is to buy a very dark blue or grey suit and wear it with black shoes.  Do not wear stripes, herringbone, or checks of any kind unless this entire section of advice seems self-evident and worthless to you.  Brown, green, olive, and (for women) brighter colors should be worn with caution -- wear them to school and get feedback before wearing them to interviews.
     • For men (the worse offenders): collars should fit snugly around your neck, ties should be tied so that the knot looks like a triangle (you can find out how to properly tie a tie here or here or here), and the length of your jacket and its sleeves should be proper (ask someone you trust about this).
   • If you are from a foreign country (especially South East Asia or India), it is much more important for you to "look American" (and to look comfortable in American business attire) than it is for you to stand out with your dress.  Go for absolutely classic styles, and wear them enough before the conference that you feel very comfortable in them.  In general, the less similar your country's customs and habits are to America, the more important it is to dress conservatively, and not to deviate from the norm.
   • Some recommendations on how to dress from Quintessential Careers.


4. Watch your time.  Know how much time you have.  In marketing, your AMA talk should take you about 30 minutes to complete.  That leaves 15 minutes for questions, and about 5-10 minutes for you to ask questions.


5. TAKE NOTES! If you're successful, you'll be interviewing with a lot of schools, and you'll forget people's names and faces. Keep a notebook and scribble down impressions after each interview.  Write down any specifics about the schools.  Most importantly, write down who was in the room.


6. Bring food.  If you are successful, you may have a long stretch of interviews with virtually no break.  Bring a couple of granola bars and a bottle of water, soda, or juice.  Know if you'll need caffeine, headache medication, or any other drug, and bring them with you.  Do not accept offers for coffee or tea (or anything else, when asked "can we get you anything?") from your interviewers (the question is frequently rhetorical, but water is fine).  Do not eat during interviews.  If possible, be firm that you cannot interview for one hour around lunch (your life will be much better for it).


7. Organize, then practice, Practice, PRACTICE!
   • In only 30 minutes you can't possibly cover everything that is in your dissertation.  Remember that what you are presenting is a summary. Hit only the high points.
   • Use visuals.  Keep them clear and simple.  Put the minimum amount on each slide that is necessary to convey your point.
   • Know exactly what point you are trying to make with each visual, bullet-point, and picture.  Know exactly what you intend to say, and when you will say it.  Know these points backward, forward, and upside-down.  You may be required to skip around the presentation because of questions -- know your presentation well enough to skip around if necessary.
   • This should be the most polished lecture you have ever given. Faculty members will use your presentation to assess your ability to teach.  If the interviewers get the idea that you cannot clearly communicate your own research, they will conclude that you cannot teach.  This will lose you a campus callback.

   Visit Trina Sego and Jef Richards site at University of Texas, which has a lot more advice on what search committees are looking for (in general), and how to prepare.  They also have a long list of questions, but without answers.

   If you already have an offer in hand, visit my list of questions to ask after the offer.

Interview questions you must be able to answer

This section details questions that are likely to be asked.  This is a list of the tough questions, not a comprehensive list of possible questions.

• You should also expect strange questions that are "from left field."  Those questions are idiosyncratic to the particular interviewers (such as, "If you were to draw a Venn diagram representing your research, what would it look like?" or "Isn't that similar to Einstein's theory of relativity?").  You cannot prepare for these.  Answer as politely and as well as you can, and know that some will be asked.

• How you handle questions will be closely evaluated. On occasion, the Q&A session may get adversarial.  Don't let them see you sweat.  Be prepared to talk about your research often and in detail to different constituencies.  Be as confident as possible.  

The Questions

• Describe your research. 

Strategy:  Have a good, articulate description of your research down pat in both short and longer versions, for experts and non-experts.  You should have a 5 min, 2-3 minute, 1 minute, and a 1-3 sentence answer.  These answers should be well-rehearsed and polished.  You need to know which length is appropriate.  In general, the more that you can make the longer versions extensions and elaborations of the shorter versions, the better off you are -- just start with the 1-3 sentences of overview, then continue elaborating through the 1 minute version.  If people's eyes are not glazing over, continue to 2 minutes, and then stop to see if they ask you go go on. 

• What is the managerial relevance of your work?  Alternatively:  What applications do you see for this work? OR What insight into the practice of marketing does your work provide?

Strategy:  You must be able to answer this question.  If your dissertation is a basic science-type project in an otherwise applied field, then you should be prepared to offer a succinct, compelling bridge between your problem (and results) to those who would use the result, and what applied research would benefit from your findings.  This may give you a brief opportunity to mention your future plans for additional research, if that research path will be more applied.  If you have already chosen a relevant applied problem, then be sure that you can explain (and show with data) that your new technique is superior to the existing state of the art, or explain how your idea changes the common wisdom.

• What audiences are you addressing, what are the other hot research streams or scholars in your field, and how does your work compare  and contrast to theirs?  Alternatively:  how similar is your research to <name of research stream here>?
• Rephrased: what is the cutting edge in your field and how does your work extend it?

  Strategy: Answer this question on your terms.  Be sure that you know the relevant literatures.  On the other hand, be on guard that literatures sometimes go by different names than those you use.  Related fields frequently study similar topics under different names.  Be sure you understand what someone is asking before you answer.  If you don't quite understand what they mean, say something like "I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with the keyword you are using to reference that literature stream, could you describe the literature you are referring to -- perhaps I know it under another name."

• Why did you choose to pursue this problem using technique X instead of technique Y?  Variations: ... instead of technique Y (which I developed); ...instead of technique Y (which I like, and have used in all my papers); ... instead of technique Y (which I erroneously believe to have any relevance to the problem at hand); ...instead of technique Y (which could be used, but would be like swatting a fly with a nuclear weapon). 

Strategy:  Do NOT get into a protracted argument with the questioner.  Do NOT deliver a look of withering disdain and then respond with the thirty reasons that technique Y stinks, or is inappropriate to the problem at hand.  As the alternative phrasings make clear, your questioner may have developed or used the technique that you are about to discredit.

Good answers to this question depend on who is asking.  Sometimes the person is not in your field, or is old and out of date, or is plain wrong.  The safe answer is to respond with the strengths of your technique, AND THEN relate those strengths back to the specific problem and audience you are addressing with your research.  The feeling you want to convey is that you considered using technique Y, but chose X based on the specific advantages it had for your problem.  If the person is dead wrong, or if the technique is merely one of their personal favorites, one of their colleagues may come to your rescue (e.g., "...come off it Jim, nobody uses that technique for these problems any more..." -- it helps to make eye contact with the colleagues).  If the person keeps pushing you, or if things get adversarial, manage your time and politely say something like "there are clearly many ways to approach this problem, and it is unlikely that we will resolve them in the next 20 minutes... perhaps if I show you my results, we can return to this topic again at the end of the interview..."

• When you say X, what exactly do you mean?  Alternatives:  How do you operationalize construct X.  Mathematically, define X.

Your advisor and other members of your department should have brought up all these questions with you.  It is your responsibility to have precise, reasonable definitions of words that are central to your argument.  If you are using loaded words (e.g., "normative", "reasonable", "fair", easy, hard, analogous) you had better be able to defend their use and to give precise definitions of what you mean.  If you don't need to use a word, don't use it.  If it is central to your argument, be precise and clearly express why it is central.  Examples:  

"I hypothesize that people will be more concerned with fairness when the situation is reasonable than unreasonable." -- This line just screams for someone to ask you to define "reasonable," define "unreasonable," ask how you quantify the degree of (un)reasonableness, and how you will measure fairness.  Furthermore, someone will ask you how your operationalization of fairness compares with the economic (mathematical) literature on fairness, and someone will ask if you are talking about procedural or outcome based fairness.  In short, you will not get off the first page of your presentation if you haven't thought through your terms.

"I am studying diffusion of innovation in high-technology markets." --  Why high-technology markets?  In what ways are high-tech markets different from fast-paced, but low tech markets?   Does your research hinge on the product being high tech?  Why or why not?  How do you define the market?  How sensitive to the definition and boundary of the market are your results?  Are you looking at first adoption or the diffusion of products through multiple generations?  ...

• Where do you see this stream of research going?  Rephrased:  What are some limitations of this research, and how do you see yourself addressing those limitations in the future?

  Strategy:  Your dissertation is likely to be your major research stream for the next several years.  You should have a good idea of what the limitations and compromises have been, and how you will push the boundary further in the future. 

• Tell us about your research program. What will you be working on once you've completed your doctoral work? What do you plan to look at next?

Having a paper or a talk ready that showcases a topic different from your doctoral research demonstrates strong research prowess.  Having research underway (but not in finished form) that is different from your dissertation is also a good sign. You don't need a lot of other research, just enough to make people believe that you are not going to be a one-hit-wonder.  In either case mention the other research that you are doing, perhaps by directing people to the relevant portion of your C.V., and deliver a well-developed 1-2 minute description of this research.  Be prepared to go into more detail.

• What you've said is all very interesting, but isn't your result (choose adjective):  overly complex,  overly simplistic, mis-specified, self-evident, irrelevant, or ridiculous? What is the broader significance of your research?  

Remember that this is a legitimate and important question -- it may be the toughest one you get.  Usually asked by someone outside your (sub)field. The question essentially asks whether you can explain the value of your work to an educated layperson.  It also asks you to grapple with the limitations of your research. Don't be afraid to acknowledge these, particularly if you can use such an acknowledgement to indicate where you intend to go in your research after this. (My doctoral research, you see, is only the necessary first step...).  You should have a good idea whether people think your work is any of the above adjectives before you go and interview.

• What is your basic teaching philosophy?  Alternatively:  Related (unlikely) questions at AMA:  Describe your teaching style.  How would you innovate <name of course>.  How does your research influence your teaching? 

  These questions are unlikely to be asked in marketing unless you are interviewing at a teaching school.  On the other hand, you should know what the answer is.  There is no stock answer here.  Terrible answers are to disparage teaching or to indicate that you have never thought about teaching at all.  

• What courses would you like to teach if you had your choice? (more common than the above teaching questions)

  Be open and as flexible as it is possible to be.  In marketing, this question is usually for information purposes only -- in other fields people may not get hired because they cannot teach a needed course.  Do not lie and say that you would be willing to teach something that you are not willing to teach.  Do not say that you would be willing to teach "anything" unless you actually mean it.

• Tell me about _____________ on your C.V.

  Know your C.V. PERFECTLY!  If you say you can teach a course, or have TA'ed a course, or have a research stream, or job experience, or anything else -- be prepared to talk about it at any possible level of detail.  People ask about the strangest things!  I had someone ask me about my experience working with a particular software package -- it turned out that before becoming an academic, he was the manager who oversaw the development of the software!  One of my MBA students wrote that she could sing on her resume, and an interviewer asked her to sing a song. Never ever, lie, misrepresent, or overclaim credit on your C.V. -- it is VERY likely to come back and haunt you.

• Questions about school preference and potentially illegal questions (difficult)
  1. You are from the East [West] coast -- what is it about our school on the opposite shore [in the Midwest] that interests you?
  2. You are from Major Metropolitan City X -- what is it about Cowpatch U that interests you?  Do you foresee any problems moving out into the boondocks?
  3. Do you foresee any problems moving to <area of school>?  (uncommon)
  4. Why do you especially want to teach at Nameless College or University? How do you see yourself contributing to our department?   Alternatively: Your degree is from Prestige Research University -- what is it about Mediocre U that interests you?  Alternatively:  Where do you see us on your preference list?
  5. Regrettably more common than #3: You are married (unmarried, an ethnic minority, from a foreign country, openly gay, etc.) -- do you foresee any problems moving to Redneck U?  Alternatively:  What does your spouse do for a living?  Alternatively:  What does your spouse think about moving to Boondock U?  Will you be moving with anyone else who might need to find employment?  (these questions may be illegal, but see below)

Strategy:  Some variant of these questions will almost certainly be asked.  The questions fall into two types:  legal and potentially illegal.  Ordinarily, these questions are trying to ascertain how likely it is that you would accept an offer if one were made.

Legal Questions  

Questions of this type (numbers 1-4) represent your opportunity to show that you have done your homework.  You should sound interested in the school.  No school wants to be someone's safety or backup choice.  Know the department's strengths.  Know where the school is located, and what is nearby.  Link departmental strengths and nearby attractions to your lifestyle.  A slam-dunk answer would be something like this:

"You know, a lot of people ask me why I'm applying to more rural campuses.  The truth is, I don't like the city much.  As you can see from my CV, my undergraduate alma mater was located in an idyllic frozen winterland.  For all these years of work and graduate study, I have been wondering how to return to a similar halcyon environment.  Since Boondock U is a department with great research strength in <fill in sub-field here>, it is particularly attractive to me because I see <fill in linkages to your research, and how you will add to the strength, or compliment it>.  Furthermore, as I am a world-class cross-country skier, the flat, frozen tundra around Boondock U will be a source of endless entertainment during those dark winter months."

If you feel that your spouse or S/O is an asset, nothing stops you from adding (nothing stops you from volunteering information):

"Furthermore, my spouse is a freelance writer, and so he/she is very portable and can work anywhere.  He/She is looking forward to moving somewhere where there is less crime and noise so that he/she can concentrate on his/her writing." -- or anything equivalent that indicates that your spouse is portable and has no reservations about moving to wherever the school is located.

Similarly, reference family, friends, and other links to the area:

"I have a cousin (college roommate, friend, former business partner) in <Town less than 1 hr from Boondock U>, and it would be great to be only 1 hr from her, instead of seven hours."  or ... "Ever since I spent a semester visiting the west coast, I have always wanted to live in the Bay Area.  It is just stunningly beautiful.  I'll have no trouble leaving behind the cold, dreary East Coast."  ...or... "My friends who did their graduate work at Boondock U tell me that it has a vibrant cultural life, and a large and cohesive <fill in name of relevant ethnic, religious, or other community that you belong to> community, which is very appealing to me."

If the school is a teaching school, but you are graduating from a prestige research university, the school may also be saying:  No one on the faculty (much less the students ) at Teaching U has even heard of the subject/method of your research.  How do you think you could fit in here? Could you be happy or at least useful in a backwater?  The answers take the same form as the above.

Potentially Illegal Questions (number 5, above)

The legality of these questions hinges on subtleties and specifics of wording.  (I am not a lawyer, and all advice on this topic represents my opinion.  If you think you have a legal case, don't base it on this information!)  Do not assume that interviewers are attempting to find out information for nefarious purposes.  This site has some great advice about potentially illegal questions.  Click here for a list of illegal questions.  This page shows side-by-side examples of legal and illegal interview questions, and illustrates the subtleties on which legality hinges.

Of the potentially sensitive questions, marital status, ethnicity, and religion are the most commonly broached.  Most often, the interview committee is trying to figure out whether you are willing to move far from friends, family, civilization, and others who are similar to you (i.e., in ethnicity or religion) for a job.  This question comes up especially frequently if you are currently attending a prestigious urban research university and are applying to a less prestigious school that is located in a remote or rural area.  If you are wearing a wedding band, expect that someone will ask about your spouse and their desire to move.  If you are a woman, expect more such questions.

When asked a sensitive question, you have three options:

1. Answer it.

2. Refuse to answer it, and mention that it makes you uncomfortable.

3. Examine the question for its intent, and provide an appropriate answer.

If the question does not make you feel uncomfortable, and is not patently illegal (see list of websites above), then it is probably in your best interests to answer (realizing that revealing the information may have a negative impact on your prospects).  If you do feel uncomfortable, or if anyone asks a patently illegal question (e.g., "do you plan to have a family?", "do you have children?  what are your childcare arrangements?") -- make sure you tell your advisor and others who are interviewing or attending the conference from your department.  They should provide additional advice.  It may be worthwhile to discuss this issue with your advisor or department chair before interviewing, if you think that it might be an issue for you.

Depending on the question, option #1 may be fine.  Option #2 should only be used if the question makes you very uncomfortable.  Option #3 is usually the best strategy -- ignore the question as asked, and respond instead to the underlying intent.  For example:

Question:  "I see that you are married.  How does your spouse feel about moving to Cowpatch U?"

Answer:  Give the same response as if the question asked was "what do you like about Cowpatch U?" -- see above for examples.  Alternatively, come up with answers before the interview: e.g., My spouse is fine with it, we've done this before (spent time apart), it's no big deal; my spouse has a more marketable career and can't wait to follow me to your wonderful location, etc.

Sidenote:  There is a strange propensity for academics to include all kinds of personal information on their resumes that would be illegal for an interviewer to ask about, or to use in decision-making (e.g., their age, their marital status, children's names and ages, etc.).  This information is frequently listed under its own resume heading entitled "Personal Data."  You should be aware that you are under NO obligation to reveal this information.  Of course, nothing stops you from volunteering anything you wish. 

• Do you have any questions for us?

  Most of the time, this question is asked just after one of the interviewers has finished telling you a lot about the school.  Hence, this is frequently a silly question on a variety of levels (duh, I did have a bunch of questions, but you just preemptively answered them).  On the other hand, it will be asked with 100% certainty, and you need an answer.  

  The proper answer to the question is "yes".  Pointers:

  • NEVER discuss salary!  This is discussed when you get an offer, and never before (in marketing... other fields may have their own norms).  If someone actually brings it up in the AMA interview, that's their decision.
  • Other things NOT to discuss in any way:  departmental politics, potential for getting tenure, how well the faculty get along (i.e., is the department congenial?), social relations among the faculty -- these all produce discomfort (warring factions may be on the interview team), and you will not get straight answers anyway -- who is going to tell you that yes, all the things you have heard about senior professor Q are correct... he is indeed a boor and an unpredictable serial character assassin who will torpedo the careers of those he dislikes?  
  • Other things NOT to bring up (the interviewers can bring these up, and then they are open for discussion, but you shouldn't initiate conversations about them in the first round):  teaching load, research support, summer support, vacation time, medical care, anything relating to benefits.  If they haven't mentioned them, then ask indirectly or just wait until the campus visit -- you don't really need this information now.
  • So, what do you ask?  Ask targeted questions that show your interest in the school or the community.

  "I know that University X has a great department of <related field>.  What are the opportunities for formal and informal interaction with that department?  What about famous Professor Zed?"

  "What kinds of research seminar series exist within the department and in related fields in the school?"

  What challenges is the department now facing?  What are your students' greatest strengths? What is the school's relation to international programs?  What is the school's relationship to the community?

  Any question about the surrounding community (unless by asking you are revealing that you haven't done your homework).

  In general your question should show that you have thought carefully about the school and are interested enough to have informed yourself about it.

• How far along is your dissertation?  When do you expect to defend?

Don't lie.  The best response is that you will be done and defended by the time you begin your job.  The next best response is the exact date that you plan to finish, with a quick overview of the plan that will get you there.

• What are the strengths/weaknesses of your Ph.D. program?

Answer in terms that do not indict any member of your program, do not shed you or the program in a bad light, and which make it clear that you think that you received first-rate education and mentoring.  Anything can of course be improved, so think of interesting and creative things that you would like to have improved about the program.  Anything that smacks of knocking your professors or your coursework is a recipe for disaster.

• What do you do when you are not working?  Alternatively:  What are your hobbies?

If you have trouble answering this question, you should probably stop thinking about academic job interviews and instead pause to reconsider your life.  You are probably not yet beyond hope. 

Strategy:  Find a like-minded friend, spouse, or significant other if possible.  Log onto Travelocity and book yourself a long (1 week or more) vacation to somewhere with no computer, no Internet, no TV, and no phone.  Repeat for friend or spouse.  Preferably, choose a place with lots of sun so you can be outside.  ClubMed is an affordable alternative that satisfies the above requirements.  Don't worry about the money -- this is much more important.

Purchase, bring with you, and read Night, by Elie Wiesel; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera; and All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren.  Add a book of accessible poetry, such as Poetry for a Lifetime, by Samuel Norfleet Etheredge, and try to find at least one poem that speaks to you.  Bring a recording of the complete Beethoven Symphonies and listen to numbers, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9.  Listen to the ninth at least twice.  If this doesn't help, then I was wrong, you are beyond hope.  Sorry.

Suggestions, additions, comments, or profundities:  email me - eme23@cornell.edu

This document is based on material written by Mary Corbin Sies, Dept. of American Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, who has a site more targeted at the questions that come up in the humanities recruiting process here.  Acknowledgements should also go to Trina Sego and Jeff Richards at U T Austin, Michael and Gamer and Anne Krook, at the University of Pennsylvania.  Links to both of their sites appear below.

All other portions are copyright Eric M. Eisenstein, 2001.  You may link to this page at will, but not mirror or reproduce it without permission from me.

Did you get an offer? Congratulations!

Stop by the related page: Questions after the offer

Other Interviewing Sites

Trina Sego and Jeff Richards have a great site at UTexas for interviewing advice.  Some is redundant with this site, but it's a great site.

About.com has a must-read site here... lots of links to other articles

Michael Gamer and Anne K. Krook have a site at the University of Pennsylvania, more targeted at humanities and English.

Academic Job Search Sites

Jonathan Dantzig has a great site on the entire process of negotiating an academic job.

Chris Golde wrote: After the Offer, Before the Deal -- how to negotiate once you have an offer.

Leigh Thompson, at Kellogg, has another site on how to negotiate an academic job.

I wrote up a bunch of questions that are culled from the above documents, you can find them here.

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